Joshua Tazman

First place winner in the Vocal Soloist Division at the 2017 Next Generation Jazz Festival

Joshua Tazman, the 18-year-old jazz musician and songwriter, spins a sophisticated, reflective web of sound, capturing the unsureness and vulnerability of becoming an adult with the insightful sophistication of an old soul. He draws from the enigmatic folk of Joni Mitchell, the cool vocal stylings of Chet Baker, and the adventurous harmony of modern classical composers combined with the funky, disjointed grooves of alternative R&B. He complements his own music with interpretations of jazz standards, showcasing his natural musicianship, horn-like scatting capabilities, and arrangements that are as sensitive as they are adventurous. Joshua is a vocalist, a pianist and a guitarist, and performs regularly around the San Francisco Bay Area with his trio. He released his debut EP, Jump, produced by Mark Mazzetti for Record Company in a Box, in 2016 in conjunction with a sold out release party held at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley.

Joshua has received an impressive set of accolades including winning the 2016 DownBeat Student Awards for High School Vocal Soloist, being named a candidate for the 2017 US Presidential Scholars in the Arts, and winning the 2016 PDX Jazz Forward competition. He has also performed with a wide variety of well-known jazz artists, most notably in an opening set for Universal Consciousness, a group that included great saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Ravi Coltrane, in 2016. He has also sung with Great American Songbook interpreter Michael Feinstein, bassist Marcus Shelby, Brazilian pianist/composer Jovino Santos Neto, saxophonists Dave Koz and Michael Zilber, and vocalists Sandy Cressman, Dee Daniels, and Dena Derose. He graduates from high school this year and plans a tour and new recording this summer.

Joshua won the inaugural Next Generation Jazz Festival Vocal Soloist Division in 2017, and is excited to attend the New England Conservatory/Tufts dual degree program in fall. Joshua was also accepted as the vocalist in Monterey Jazz Festival's Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, and performed this summer at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Rochester, Toronto and Montreal jazz festivals. He will perform several times at MJF60, with his own group, and with the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.